


The Hunt Begins

by buriedandreset



Series: Wraith/Loba [1]
Category: Apex Legends (Video Games)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-14
Updated: 2020-05-14
Packaged: 2021-03-02 23:01:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,614
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24174799
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/buriedandreset/pseuds/buriedandreset
Summary: Loba invites Wraith over to play a game of tag using their tactical abilities. After explaining what tag is to Wraith, it's all fun and games until the thief is out-maneuvered, then she gambles for the ultimate prize she has her eyes set on: Wraith.
Relationships: Loba (Apex Legends)/Wraith | Renee Blasey
Series: Wraith/Loba [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2021291
Comments: 2
Kudos: 89





	The Hunt Begins

There had always been something about Wraith that had caught her attention from the first time she’d seen her. There was something that drew her to the other woman, but she’d quickly learned that trying to get to know Wraith would be like stealing the most priceless jewel locked behind the highest security imaginable.

And that only enticed Loba to put in the effort all the more.

The thief wasn’t exactly the most open person either, but she was more willing to reach out. And the road definitely hadn’t been easy, but Loba felt that she’d finally made some progress behind some of Wraith’s defenses. She still hadn’t learned the woman’s actual name, but she wasn’t getting the cold shoulder as much. In fact, there seemed to be more humor coming from Wraith these days. Loba could work with humor.

Wraith had found Loba to be an odd person. She was someone that seemed to draw people to her like a magnet. Wraith felt that pull herself, but it had only made her keep her guard up even more. In her experience, people were only out to hurt others, and Wraith refused to let herself be hurt again.

And yet she found herself relaxing a little when Loba was around. She didn’t know what it meant, but did enjoy being around the other woman. It was similar to being around Ajay, Natalie and Pathfinder. All three of them were calming presences. Well, Ajay and Natalie moreso, but Pathfinder had his own way of letting Wraith relax a bit. Which was probably because he was a robot and not human. A bit passive-aggressive at times, but that was about it.

Loba didn’t trip her danger sense, and that was definitely a good thing in Wraith’s book. Though when Loba had invited her to hang out, she hadn’t exactly known what to expect. She knew her friend was a thief and was good at what she did, but the woman’s house was full of various treasures that were undoubtedly worth tons of money. And the house was certainly one worthy of displaying such treasures.

“Are you sure this is a house and not a vault that I’ve accidentally broken into?” Wraith quipped, glancing around at what she assumed was a living room.

“Perhaps it is a vault,” Loba quipped with a chuckle and a smile. She liked seeing that lighter side of Wraith. Getting a smile out of her was beyond difficult, but she was determined to make Wraith smile more. She was rather fond of this woman, wanting more than just friendship with her, but she was playing the long game. And also she wasn’t exactly sure if Wraith had similar feelings or not. Best to test the waters little by little.

“If it is, then I think you need better security,” Wraith deadpanned. Most people would take that statement at face value, however Loba liked to think that she’d come to read Wraith enough to know when she was actually being funny. She saw a telltale glint in those blue eyes and Loba let out a laugh.

“I think you could be right. Though I did not account for a potential burglar to be so small.” Loba had a wicked smirk on her face when Wraith looked at her.

“For a thief, I thought you’d account for burglars of all sizes.” Again, there was little inflection in Wraith’s tone, but the glint was there in her eyes.

Really it was intriguing to see just how much Wraith conveyed through only her eyes. Or the slightest of smirks. People far too often only heard the tone of voice and let that be it. Body language could tell so much, and as the saying went, the eyes were the windows to the soul. Never had Loba seen so much depth in another’s eyes as she did in Wraith’s. And even then there was a wall there. Only so much could be seen. Which was motivation for Loba to discover a way beyond the barrier.

And she had an idea. It was possibly a bit childish, but something told her that Wraith might respond well to it.

“Though since I have such a lovely little burglar here, why not take advantage of such company and play a game?” Loba suggested. She’d give Wraith a more proper tour of her home later, but for now it was simply seeing what they saw while Loba headed towards a back door that opened onto a rather spacious section of land. It was at least an acre, perhaps larger. A pool was nestled off to one side after exiting the house. The landscaping was impeccable and plenty of trees to provide shade, but not enough to choke out the sky and natural light completely.

“A game? Dare I ask what kind of game?” Wraith glanced towards the pool, inwardly hoping this game had nothing to do with the pool.

“A game of tag, as it were. You can use your phase ability and I can use my teleport. I thought it would add some spice to the child’s game.” Loba explained as she moved away from the pool and turned to look at Wraith. This time, the expression that greeted her was blank, but not in the devoid-of-emotion kind of blank. This was more of a confused kind of blank. Or what Loba thought was confusion? Really, Wraith could be so difficult to read sometimes.

“Tag.” Wraith stated flatly, but the word seemed to be foreign to her. She didn’t know what tag actually was. Perhaps she’d once known it, but that had been during the life she could no longer remember. But she also wasn’t going to just outwardly admit that she had no idea what Loba was talking about. It would be admitting too much, but she also couldn’t think of a reasonable excuse why she wouldn’t know what this game was.

Loba quirked one brow slightly as she studied the expression on Wraith’s face and the subtle change in her body language. She seemed to be...not quite defensive, but perhaps more self-conscious? It wasn’t something she’d really seen before.

“We don’t have to play it, but I thought it might be fun to chase each other around adding in some spice with our abilities. Makes it harder to catch the other person and tag them.” Loba commented. She wasn’t sure what Wraith’s response meant, but perhaps what she’d just said would help put her at ease a little more.

“Chasing each other around, huh?” Wraith commented as she glanced around. There was plenty of space to run and utilize their abilities. She was connecting the dots on what exactly tag was, or at least getting a better idea of what it was. She looked back at Loba, a little smirk tugging at the corner of her mouth. “Can’t catch what you can’t see,” she teased as her eyes glowed that iridescent blue as she phased and ran away from Loba.

Loba blinked once, then smirked as she watched where that telltale trail was leading. She slipped her bracelet off and threw it towards where Wraith was heading and teleported. Wraith was just coming out of her phase when Loba slipped her bracelet back on.

“Ah, but you forget I am a thief. Catching the unseen is my specialty,” she teased as she tried to move to tag Wraith. Wraith ducked out of reach, her agile frame allowing her to bend out of reach before she started running.

“Then allow me to give you a challenge!” She called over her shoulder. “Can you even run in those heels?”

“Oh, hurling insults, are we? I see how it is.” Loba laughed as she took off after Wraith. Her longer legs gave her an advantage and she managed to catch up to the shorter woman and tag her shoulder. “Tag, you’re it.” Loba then quickly did a couple backflips before turning heel and running off.

Wraith stopped when she was tagged, briefly pausing as she realized what the game was. She couldn’t tell if she’d known this game before or not. There was no flicker of recognition in her mind, and part of her was angry about that. So much had been taken from her, including her own name, but Loba made her feel normal, and she tended to forget about her traumas. But right now, she was less focused on her past and more focused on catching this thief.

She took off after Loba, the two locked in a dance of catch and release, interweaving their phasing and teleporting abilities when they could. It was a constant back and forth, a showcase of their agility and guile as they tagged each other and attempted to avoid getting tagged again. It was quite the sight as they both zigged and zagged, phased and teleported around Loba’s property. Laughter from both women pierced the otherwise still evening air.

Finally after Wraith was tagged, she decided to see about putting an end to the game by showing who could actually catch who. When she was tagged, she watched Loba teleport off and run around. She didn’t move to chase just yet, instead, she let her run a little before she decided to cheat and set a portal.

Technically, they’d never said portaling was off-limits. But even so, Wraith felt she’d still be accused of cheating to win and she was totally okay with that. She was lost in the moment of having fun. Her typical guard was down, something that Loba had noted and more than enjoyed seeing. She’d never seen Wraith act so free.

As it was, she hadn’t realized she wasn’t being immediately chased so Loba was still zigging and zagging. Up until a portal suddenly opened up a few feet in front of her. She skidded to a stop as Wraith suddenly appeared before her with a grin as she leapt at Loba and tackled her to the ground.

Loba let out a yelp of surprise as the two women tumbled to the ground, Wraith ending up on top. Wraith grinned at Loba like a cat that had just ate the canary.

“Caught you,” she murmured with a pleased smirk.

“Trapaceira,” Loba commented with a smirk of her own. “You cheat, my dear.”

“Technically it was never stated that I couldn’t use my portal. So is that really cheating?” Wraith pointed out a little smugly.

“You have me there,” Loba admitted after a moment of thought. She couldn’t deny that. And now she was at Wraith’s mercy as she was the one on the bottom, though she didn’t make a move to get up. In fact, she rather liked the feel of Wraith on top of her. Both of them were breathing heavily from the exertion of the game, and she wasn’t sure if she could feel Wraith’s heart pounding against her chest, or if it was just her own heart pounding.

Regardless, both of them were gazing into the other’s eyes. Wraith’s eyes flicked down to Loba’s lips for some moments before flicking back to her eyes. She had no idea what she was feeling, there were things she felt that she couldn’t put a name to. But she wanted to be closer to Loba. She felt like a magnet was pulling her towards this woman and she wasn’t trying to resist it right now.

Loba saw Wraith’s eyes flick, and she swore her heart skipped a beat. She gazed into the other woman’s eyes, seeing so much buried within their depths. The wall that was usually there was a little more transparent now. Had the thief found the key to move past this barrier and move a little deeper towards the treasure she wanted to uncover? It was possible that this was the moment to test the waters a little more, seeing if she was reading the situation, and Wraith, correctly. So she took a breath and made a gamble. Part of her was expecting to be slapped or something for what she was about to do, but she decided whatever Wraith’s reaction would be would be worth it, for better or for worse.

The wolf leaned up and captured Wraith’s lips with her own. It was tender, asking a silent question of whether Wraith returned the feelings or not.

The action was not expected by Wraith, and her brain ceased to function for a good few seconds as it processed what was happening. Loba was kissing her, and she didn’t hate it. She didn’t recoil from it. It took her another few seconds before she closed her eyes and settled into the kiss, tentatively returning it. It effectively answered Loba’s question.

As she felt the kiss returned, Loba’s heart leapt into her throat. She lifted a hand, tangling her fingers into Wraith’s hair as she let the tender kiss linger. One could certainly chalk the kiss up to the adrenaline leftover from the game, but Loba certainly hoped that it meant more than that to Wraith. And judging by the kiss, it did.

Wraith’s kiss was more tentative, as though she wasn’t entirely certain of what she was doing. As such, Loba kept the kiss gentle, guiding, letting Wraith settle into it. As much as she wanted to wrap her other arm around Wraith and hold her close, she didn’t out of fear that Wraith could take it the wrong way.

Oh Loba had long since realized Wraith had some sort of anxiety. She recognized some of Wraith’s quirks as ones she’d had herself when she was younger. She’d always been careful to not trip Wraith’s defenses if she could help it. And she felt that physical contact was something that Wraith should dictate, not her. It wasn’t easy as Loba tended to be the one to always take the lead. But she could relinquish control if it meant that she wouldn’t drive Wraith away from her.

After what seemed like an eternity, Wraith broke the kiss, needing some air as she gazed down at Loba. And now the thief could definitely tell she’d made it past that outer wall. Or rather, one of the outer walls. She’d made it past enough of them to get to where Wraith’s sense of humor showed, and now she’d gotten playfulness as well. But the kiss had broken into something else, and she could see there was fear and uncertainty in Wraith’s eyes.

For some moments, Loba didn’t know what to say, or if she should even say anything at all considering she didn’t want to make things awkward or scare her friend off. And Wraith certainly seemed like she was caught somewhere between bolting for the hills and staying where she was. Loba slid her hand from the back of Wraith’s head to her cheek, gently pressing her hand against the skin there.

“You do not need to run. I’m not going to push you into something you do not want. You have my word.” The words were gentle, and she hoped they would reassure Wraith. Loba could definitely hurt someone if she so wished. How many hearts had she broken in her life? More than she could probably count, if she were honest. But Wraith’s was not one she wanted to break. She hadn’t even found the woman’s heart yet. Loba didn’t want to lose it before she could even have the chance to find it.

“I...I just have...never done this with...anyone.” At least as far as she could remember. Perhaps she’d kissed someone, or more, before she’d been in that IMC facility.

“It’s alright. As I said, I’m not going to push you into something you are not ready for.” Loba gave her a reassuring smile. “I like you, and I do not want to scare you off.”

Wraith gazed at her intently, several thoughts running through her mind. She was scared, and she didn’t know what to do with what she was currently feeling. She’d really liked the kiss, and she liked being close to Loba. Beyond that, she didn’t know what to do. She still wasn’t ready to admit that she had no memories before that military facility. But she had to admit that she felt safe here. And Loba quieted the voices in her head. That was the most important thing to her. Loba made her feel sane, feel human, and she didn’t want to lose that.

“Lucky for you, I don’t typically scare easily,” she responded. It was difficult to comprehend that this attractive woman who could have anyone she wanted was content with her. It was frightening, and made part of her want to cry. It was overwhelming. But instead, Wraith simply gazed at Loba, reading the emotions she saw in her eyes.

“Good. So whatever may be between us I will let you dictate. And it is alright if you tell me you only want to be friends. I would rather have you in my life than risk pushing you out of it completely.” Trust didn’t come to Loba, and she’d determined that it was the same for Wraith. So she wasn’t about to abuse the trust that Wraith had just given her. And she sincerely hoped that Wraith would give equal respect to her own trust that she placed in her.

“Thank you,” Wraith said, a soft smile curving the corner of her mouth.

“You are welcome,” Loba responded with a warm smile of her own. She pulled her hand away from Wraith’s cheek and gently set it on the small of her back. She felt the way that Wraith’s body stiffened for a moment before it relaxed. Some moments of comfortable silence passed between them, and a question came to Loba, one that she’d wanted to ask before but hadn’t had the chance. Now that she’d defeated a level of security around Wraith’s heart, she felt she could ask it. “Not to be pushy, but you know my name, may I know yours?”

The question was a simple one, but it hung heavy on Wraith’s shoulders. She didn’t know what her name was. Admitting such was something she’d never done before. Everyone else had always been content with Wraith. It was a name that suited her, after all. She was much like an apparition that could appear and disappear at will. She was nameless, though she was certain records of her existed in the facilities located beneath the arenas of the Apex Games.

The other ‘name’ she had was not one she cared to think of. It was simply a series of numbers. Wraith didn’t like admitting anything remotely tied to herself or her past, but she couldn’t dodge Loba’s question. And there was a little part of her that didn’t want to dodge it. Perhaps a thief could help her find some answers. Wraith, after all, was not a hacker nor did she have the connections Loba did. Loba could undoubtedly help her if she’d allow it.

“I...don’t know what my name is,” she finally admitted a bit sheepishly. “I called myself Wraith because it fits to what I am. I am a ghost in the system.” It was a major admission, and she expected Loba to tease her or joke about it, thinking she wasn’t serious.

But Loba’s reaction was the opposite. Her eyes widened in surprise, but there was also some realization. Wraith didn’t know what her name was, which pointed to either memory loss or she’d simply been raised in such an environment that she was never given a name. And perhaps it could point to where her phase and portal abilities came from, but Loba didn’t voice that. She’d let Wraith tell her in her own time.

“No matter what you may think, I assure you that you are no ghost to me. You are flesh and bone, and you mean something to me.” Loba said it with conviction because she believed it. There were people that Loba would say the very opposite to, but Wraith was someone she cared about.

That response was something Wraith had never expected to hear from anyone. Her face suddenly felt warm and she ducked her head a bit. “Thank you.” Before she suffered more embarrassment, Wraith took a breath and realized she was still lying on top of Loba. Her face suddenly felt even hotter. “Perhaps I should let you get up,” she muttered.

Loba saw the blush, and couldn’t help a grin when she saw the blush deepen. “No rush, I’m rather enjoying the view,” she quipped. Wraith eyed her quizzically for some moments.

“Then allow me to move so you can admire the evening sky better,” she quipped before she slid off of Loba and got to her feet. She then held her hand out to Loba and helped her up.

“Do not sell yourself short. I find you far more intriguing than anything else.” Loba responded and she brushed some blades of grass off of her clothes.

“You find me more intriguing that a priceless artifact? Huh, good to know,” Wraith responded nonchalantly as she smoothed out her clothes. Loba let out a laugh at that.

“Oh little do you know, my dear,” Loba said with a bemused smirk. With that, she led Wraith back into the house. She needed something to drink and figured her friend needed one as well. Besides, the thief was on the scent of a treasure far more precious than any artifact or jewel. Working out Wraith’s defenses was more than worth engaging with. Loba simply wondered how long it would take Wraith to realize what the ultimate treasure Loba was hunting for was.


End file.
